I am a snowboarder and Mrs Jimbo skis. Incredibly, we get on just fine. Imagine! The sitting down thing is because it’s quite hard to stand stationary on a board, ski-ists have poles. As for the sitting down in the middle of the piste thing, that perplexes me too.

One car that you should only buy on Toyota’s finance. 0% Personal Contract Plan with no deposit makes a lot more sense than taking a chance on a used one as they don’t wear their miles well. New ones have 5 years warranty too. OP, where are you based? I may well be able to sort you out if that’s the route you were thinking of.

@Scamper – Well that just goes to show you can prove just about anything with facts :-)

The next thing you’ll be telling me is that Fred Flintstone couldn’t have had a pet dinosaur.

Triassic bunter, that’s yer problem. All those little round stones were once at the bottom of a very large, very fast prehistoric river in northern France or southern Germany. They found their way to their current slippy location sometime in the last ice age. They also owe me a new helmet.

Did that pink Vanish OXY Action lady off the telly immediately turn up with a detergent based answer to your problems?

That Decathlon SS is down to £54.99 on their website for those that are interested. Looks proper retro value, it’s got a quill stem and everything!! Whack on some STX and it’d be like I was fifteen again.

8O

This thread is useless without picks.

IGMC

In my experience, cars are at their best between 10 and 30k. Whether that relates to bhp, you would need a dyno to be sure. I’m pretty certain a car that’s done 100k miles is unlikely to have all it’s horses left.

Had mine for a couple of weeks, pretty positive so far. I’ve yet to get rained on though and it does feel a bit like I’ve gone for a ride in a cardi’. :-)

I don’t need to argue with you, I know I’m right.

The 10% rule is indeed utter rubbish and punters have a tendency to walk away from really nice cars just because they can't get the 'deal' their mate/father in law/Parkers tell them they should be getting. It's far more important to check the service history of the car as that is a really good indication of how a car has been looked after.
What sort of discount you will get will depend on on what time of the month it is, how long the car has been in stock, how well the car has been bought and whether or not they are popular or scarce. I would be deeply suspicious of any dealer that entertained an offer as low as 10% on anything, as that would indicate the car was way over priced to begin with or there was a very good reason the dealer wanted rid of it.
Lastly, your approach is essential. Be firm but be nice. Every car salesman expects a bit of a haggle, but walking in to a dealer with a sense of entitlement and a clever-dick attitude will probably lead to you being treated in much the same way.

Cochise-Audioslave. Think I'll listen to the whole album now. :D

Get it checked out. Seriously. If you find anything that wasn't there before get it looked at. If you're just being a bit of a worrier the worst you'll get is rolled eyes and a tut from your GP. The consequences of ignoring something like that are way worse.

Hmm, couple of things, it's dietitian not dietician. They tend to get stroppy about the American spelling thing- I know, I married one (a Dietitian, not an American). She has also opined that iDaves thoughts are mainly sound, though no doubt, he'll post again in a minute to tell us he doesn't care what anyone thinks. :wink:

There's no substitute for a bit of research on the web to find out what similar cars are up for. You should be able to benchmark that way after weeding out the sellers that are hopelessly optimistic and the usual high mileage horrors. Relying on the likes of Parkers for a quick 'price' can lead to unrealistic expectations as they are hopeless generalisations based on average sale prices months ago. Also, don't underestimate the value of a really good professional valet before showing a potential buyer the car. That's what gives the 'really good condition' feeling.

Had a Cobalt C on my Rush and was pretty unimpressed given the price. It wasn't especially well sealed and I too had the rusting issue. Seems like the way to go with headsets is either 'cheap and often' or Chris King. I went CK and so far so good.

You are correct. Give it some welly.

Here we go. Mine's a 16" and just right for my towering 5'7" frame.

Just popped out to my local dealer (William Morrison) for a fix. Winter bean stew tonight. I've got Brittany butter and everything!

Just had a look at Gene Hoglan and must say smugness has subsided somewhat. Can't imagine why Mrs LJ didn't get that one, what with her being such a speed metal freak and all.

Sorry j_d, no offence meant :D

Seriously? Obnoxious, certainly.
Fat though?

Got up silly early this morning and had a quick blast round FTD at Cannock Chase. Only a couple of cars in the car park when we set off, the rain held off although it was very puddly as you'd expect after the recent biblical weather. Got back to a very full carpark just as the weather closed in. Not too smug however as I had to go straight to work. I think I may have knackered the washing machine and Mrs LJ has just walked in 8O

MTB's only

1990 MBK Flouro Something or other.
1991 Marin Palisades Trail ( Still a bit Flouro!)
1992 Kona Lava Dome
1994 KHS Montana Comp (first set of Hope Hubs!)
1995 Specialized Stumpjumper (Tange Steel)
1997 Schwinn Mesa
2004 Cannondale Jekyll
2007 Cannondale Rush
2009 Ti 456 (still awaiting assembly)

List would probably be twice as long if all the rat bikes, road bikes and various bodges were included. Still a bit wimpy compared to some of you lot though! :-)

Two monkeys in the bath.

First one says "ooh oooh aah aaaah ooo aggghhh!"

Second one says "well put some cold in then"

If by lease, you mean Contract Hire then all you normally get is a car and some tax every year.

Unless you do mega mileage don't bother with a maintenance contract as most new cars have service intervals of up to 20,000 miles so the extra you pay every month adds up to more than the one service you need in a 3 year contract.

b r is right about mileage, so long as the excess mileage charge isn't stupid (sub 10ppm) pay the adjustment at the end. If you end overestimate your mileage, however, you get nothing back and the lease company profits when they auction the car off.

Hope this helps.